


Family Matters

by Anonymous



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 20:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14064987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Genesis looked nothing like his parents.





	Family Matters

Genesis looked nothing like his parents, fair-skinned and willowy where his father was tanned and stocky, soft and delicate where his mother was angular and aquiline. At first, Angeal thought it was just because of age, but as they grew up, Genesis remained stubbornly ... different. What inappropriate rumors had already been circulating amongst the kids in Banora increased. Nobody much liked the Rhapsodos family anyways, and if they were fair employers or perfectly polite people, then what of it? They were still rich folk who kept to themselves, and that son of theirs … well, he was a bit of a stuck-up brat.

It took years for Angeal to muster up the courage to ask—talking to Genesis about his parents was akin to navigating through mine-infested territory, where one wrong step could very well end in bloody death—but when he finally brought it up on the road to Midgar, Genesis just sniffed and threw another log onto the fire, sending up a shower of sparks. "Of course not, I'm adopted."

Angeal blinked. Digested that. He should've guessed. It made better sense than the more inappropriate rumors the kids liked to bandy around about Genesis’s mother and the wrong side of the sheets. "Did your parents tell you?"

"No, I’m simply not _blind_.”

Neither was anyone else in the village, Angeal wanted to point out, but Genesis beat him to the punch. "I'm not deaf either," he snapped. "Don't think I haven't heard the whispers.”

He didn’t offer any more than that, instead poking at the fire with a stick, a moody tilt to his mouth. Angeal watched him through the flames, wondering what it was like, to know that you were adopted without having been told. If it’d been him… it’d hurt, a little bit, if he'd found out and she'd chosen not to tell him, but even if his mother wasn’t _actually_ his mother, he didn’t think it’d matter; she loved him, and that was the most important thing.

It was different for Genesis, though. Not that Angeal had spent a lot of time around Mr. and Mrs. Rhapsodos, but whenever he’d seen them with Genesis, they were distant and polite. Not cold and never cruel, but it’d always seemed to Angeal that they didn’t know what to _do_ with Genesis; there was always an awkwardness to their interactions that contrasted sharply with Angeal’s own relationship with his mom.

Granted, Genesis’s own behavior—always toeing the fine line between insubordination and civility—didn’t help matters either.

"Do you ever wonder who your real parents are?" Angeal asked finally, when the silence had stretched too long.

Genesis’s mouth twisted, but he didn’t lift his eyes from the flames. "No. They're the ones who abandoned _me_. Why should _I_ waste any of my time thinking about _them_?"

The vehemence in his words belied his indifference, but Angeal found that he didn't have a good response, nor the heart to contradict him.


End file.
